Newly discovered fossilized skin pigments from a trio of multi-million-year-old marine reptiles reveal that these real-life sea monsters were at least partially dark colored when they were alive, according to research appearing in the latest edition of the journal Nature.

Thalattoarchon saurophagis – lizard eating sovereign of the sea – lived approximately 244 million years ago. The fossil is an early representative of the ichthyosaurs, which were a group of marine reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

A new analysis of extinct sea creatures suggests that the transition from egg-laying to live-born young opened up evolutionary pathways that allowed these ancient species to adapt to and thrive in open oceans.

Word of the Day

pawl

A pivoted catch designed to fall into a notch on a ratchet wheel so as to allow movement in only one direction (e.g. on a windlass or in a clock mechanism), or alternatively to move the wheel in one direction.